Underestimating Children

9 girls, 5 men, 10 days: Men & Girls Dance. There is an extraordinary piece of magic which happens over the 10 days in which we make Men & Girls Dance.

It happens every time we start in a new place, every time we begin again, with each new company. When the girls and the men meet on the first day of rehearsals, they meet on equal terms, and their task is to play, work, rest, and to become a new company together.

Here are 5 professional dancers; here are 9 girls, some of whom have danced a little, some of whom have not.

What can you teach each other? What do you know? What makes you laugh? Which ways of moving makes your heart soar? What are you scared of? How can I make this hold more comfortable for you? How can I help you to lift me higher? Can you teach me that? Show me again. How shall we make it better?

Making this show is as much a process of unlearning as of learning.

It is the unlearning of the usual adult child contract, which places adults in the lead roles with the children in the background.

It is the unlearning of the separation of adults and children, of men from girls. It is the unlearning of what a dancing body should look like, of who can and should dance and who can't and should not.

It is the unlearning of how to learn. It is the unlearning of children, of a child, of girls, of this girl, of these girls being underestimated.

9 girls, 5 men, 10 days: this show? Yes, of course.